Vaunted freshmen make strong debut

Win No. 300 in Utah volleyball coach Beth Launiere's tenure may have been "pretty shaky most of the night," as she said.

But one thing seemed pretty obvious.

There will be a lot more before this freshmen class at the U. departs.

Everybody knew that was likely to be the case as Launiere's recruiting class was listed as the eighth best in the country for the season.

But freshmen Airial Salvo of Farmington, Shannon Krug of Colorado, Lori Baird of Murray, Kathryn Lovell of North Salt Lake and Lacey Lavarias of Hawaii fought off the nerves of their first collegiate match for a strong showing as Utah downed Idaho State in three games Friday night at Crimson Court, 30-22, 30-28, 30-27.

Salvo, Krug and Baird were on the court from the get-go, while Lovell has some experience ahead of her in Shelly Sommerfeldt and Danielle Leichliter, both of whom left the match early to rest preseason injuries, with things in good hands.

Salvo, with nearly 40 international matches under her belt with her club and junior national teams, had 15 kills and no errors on 31 total attacks for a .484 hitting percentage. "That's really good," Launiere noted. Salvo added 11 digs, one short of sophomore Katie Robison's dozen.

Only 6-foot-7 sophomore Emilie Toone had a better kill ratio, .714, on seven attacks with five kills and no errors.

Baird hit .417 with a dozen kills and two errors, and Krug set nearly all of the match for 43 set assists, six digs and four block assists.

Lovell added seven kills, and Lavarias got a dig in just a few minutes on the court.

"It was pretty much what I expected," Launiere said about the Utes' season debut — the first event for the whole university's athletic program in the 2005-06 season.

"We're not a well-oiled machine by any stretch, but you can see, obviously, the talent that's there, and we just need to put it together," Launiere said, fully expecting her team to grow all season.

"Of course I was nervous," said Salvo, whose mother played at Utah. "I'm just glad to get out and finally play in a Utah jersey."

"We didn't know what to expect. We just came to compete and have fun," added Baird.

Launiere said she was happy to get her 300th victory because of what it says for her program. "It's a nice accomplishment. It's nice to have milestones and things. It says a lot about our program and where it's at and getting a lot of wins every year."

Idaho State carries four Utahns on its roster, Bountiful's Katie Hurst, Sandy's Karli Maughan, Highland's Paige Palmer and Murray's Blakely Peppinger. Hurst and Maughan played Friday night, each getting three kills.

Utah's next match is Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Weber State at Crimson Court.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com